Restaurant Insider

Monica Dimas is the spunky, ambitious, smart-as-a-whip and extremely talented sous chef at Ethan Stowell’s Mkt. While her petite stature matches the 600-square-feet of the tiny restaurant, her appetite does not. At all.
During a recent dinner outing with the human stomach, the topic of her eating habits came up, which enthralled me to no end.
Here’s what she eats on her typical days off.

There are meals in almost every restaurant serving off-menu items that you would never be lucky enough to eat unless you worked in the restaurant. They’re called family meals and they're served before or after service to feed those who work tirelessly to bring good food to your table — staff members who rarely get a chance to eat during their busy shift.

Sara Naftaly is best known in Seattle for co-owning Le Gourmand with her husband Bruce before it closed in June 2012 after nearly 30 years in business. The corner brick space in Ballard now houses Brimmer & Heeltap.

Our local distillers are like year-round greenhouses–something exciting and intriguing is always blooming. Of course, the blooms are bottles full of delicious spirits and liqueurs, which are sure to make your summer tastier. Try any of the below new and new-ish releases and you'll see how right I am.

Reviewing Bourbon & Bones for our July issue was one of the most fun times I've had recently checking out a new restaurant. The barbecue here is mighty fine, but I"ll go back for the atmosphere. The near deafening Van Halen that was burning a whole through the speakers the last time I was there was crazy, in a very good way. I love the attitude this place gives off.

Cafe Solstice, which started out as a modest coffee cart on Broadway back in 1993, has opened a full-fledged restaurant/coffee shop in the Lyric Apartment complex on Capitol Hill (corner of 10th and Thomas). They opened softly on June 21 (summer solstice) and officially opened this past Friday.
Here are 10 things to know:

A new Korean-influenced steakhouse is coming to—wait for it—Pioneer Square. Girin (510 Stadium Place S.) will be going into Stadium Place, right next door to Josh Henderson’s Quality Athletics, which is still on track for an early September opening.

When Top Chef was still in its heyday, before becoming less about contestants and more about product placement, hometown gal and former Crave chef-owner Robin Leventhal quickly became the underdog everyone in Seattle wanted to take home the season six win. She didn’t, but she’s winning in a way bigger way these days.

Over the years, I’ve stopped in at the Colville Street Patisserie a handful of times. I don’t usually start my days off with a pastry, but when you’re in Walla Walla, where it always feels like a mini vacation (er, not that I'm on vacation. This is day three of a four-day work trip. Research!), it’s a natural morning stop.

It's day two of a four-day stay in Walla Walla for me (all in the name of work). And no trip out to these parts would be complete without a stop in nearby Waitsburg to see Jim German at his namesake cocktail bar, hailed as one of the best in the state.

It’s Monday, which means the majority of us are likely (still) in wanderlust mode.
I happen to be at Sea-Tac Airport as I write this—heading to Walla Walla to work on a piece for our October issue, which brings me to the crux of this breezy Monday blog post sponsored by bubbly.

An independently owned restaurant is coming to town, and I’m not talking Seattle for once.
Located just off Bellevue Downtown Park, the aptly named 99 Park will be a sleek and sexy little spot when it opens sometime this summer (best case scenario, mid-July). It’s owned and operated by former real estate developer Micah Pittman, who is a Bellevue resident himself.
Here are 10 things to know:

Let’s talk about the dining scene in U-Village. It’s quite different than anywhere else in the city, yes? It’s like its own little bubble. What flies here isn’t necessarily an indication of what could compete in the realm of chef-driven neighborhood spots.